Students in the western state of Michoacan seized 15 buses and 18 delivery trucks belonging to firms such as Coca-Cola and baking giant Bimbo as part of protests against a proposed overhaul of Mexican labor law.

The bill, which would facilitate outsourcing and make it easier for firms to hire and fire workers, was approved last weekend by the lower house and is now before the Senate

Sources in the state government said the delivery trucks were commandeered by students at the Rural Normal School in Cheran, a settlement of Purepecha Indians.

Besides the labor overhaul, the students were protesting changes to the curriculum at Mexico’s normal schools, which prepare young people for careers in teaching.

Common in both Europe and the Americas during the 19th century, normal schools faded into obsolescence in most advanced nations as the job of teacher training was taken over by colleges and universities.

The new curriculum for Mexican normal schools includes compulsory English-language courses.

The Cheran students took the hijacked delivery trucks back to their school, authorities said.

Students from the Rural Normal School in Arteaga seized five buses at a toll plaza on the Siglo XXI highway, which links Michoacan’s capital, Morelia, with the Pacific coast.

Ten other buses were commandeered by students from Vasco de Quiroga Rural Normal School, just outside Morelia.